Widespread and locally common. Flies from mid June to October. The Common Hawker is most often seen hawking over breeding areas and along the edges of woodland. This is a bog and moorland species breeding in small acid pools. However wandering adults can be seen far away from breeding sites and there have been records from remote islands off the west and north coasts.

The Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense is similar but is unlikely to cause confusion due to its earlier flight period. It is most likely to be confused with the Migrant Hawker however in the Common Hawker the costa is yellow (as opposed to brown) and the male has long and narrow antehumeral stripes whereas in the Migrant Hawker they are much shorter.